1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire harness in which a circuit unit having a plurality of electric wires are interposed with a soft sheet material, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a related art of wire harnesses, the International Patent Application Laid-Open No. WO-92/05011 based on Patent Cooperation Treaty discloses a technique of the wire harness which is a method of mounting a wire harness distributed in an automobile door. The wire harness forms a unit having a rigid-shape structure of a carrier and constituent parts, and the unit is finally mounted at a predetermined position of the automobile door to be equipped with the constituent parts.
More specifically, a mold table corresponding to the shape of an automobile door has grooves and projections having the same shapes as those of the shape of the automobile door and formed therein, and is of a vacuum-mold type. Electric wires and a connector serving as constituent parts are set at a predetermined position and then covered with a plastic foil. The plastic foil is heated to be in a plastic state, and the mold table is set in a vacuum state. The constituent parts are partially wrapped with the plastic foil and then fixed in the automobile door. Thereafter, the excessive portion is cut by seizures to form a wire harness.
In a mounting unit using the wire harness, the electric wires are wrapped with the plastic foil to be distributed in the automobile door. Since the wire harness has a rigid-shape structure wrapped with the plastic foil, when the mounting unit using the wire harness is attached to the automobile door, the constituent parts are finally mounted at a predetermined position of the automobile door.
However, since the plastic foil in which the constituent parts such as the electric wires and the connector are wrapped has a rigid-shape structure, when the mounting unit is attached to the automobile door, the mounting unit interferes with the panel of the automobile door due to vibration so that noise may be generated.
In addition, since the mounting units using the wire harness have rigid-shape structures, the mounting units are conveyed with being in an attaching state to automobile doors and then delivered to an automobile manufacturer. Therefore, since the mounting units are large in volume, conveyance of the mounting units is cumbersome, and a large space is required to store these mounting units.
The present invention was conceived to solve the above described problem, and the object of the present invention is to provide a wire harness which is free from noise when the wire harness is mounted on a vehicle, which can be delivered with a simple operation, which does not require a large space, and a method of manufacturing the same.
To achieve the object according to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a wire harness comprising a circuit unit having a plurality of electric wires, and at least one soft sheet material with which the circuit unit is distributed on a predetermined path and interposed in an adhesion state.
In this wire harness, since a circuit unit having a plurality of electric wires is enclosed with a soft sheet material, even if a body panel interferes with the soft sheet material when the wire harness is mounted on the vehicle, no noise is generated. Further, when the wire harness is conveyed, the wire harness is constituted by the soft sheet material, the wire harness is small in volume because it can be folded. Since the wire harness can be made compact, the wire harness does not require a large space for storing.
According to a second aspect of the invention, as it depends from the first aspect, the circuit unit is distributed on the predetermined path and interposed between two soft sheet materials which are adhesively joined to each other.
In this wire harness, since the circuit unit is interposed between the two soft sheet materials, the circuit unit can be reliably made water-proof.
According to a third aspect of the invention, as it depends from the first or second aspects, an adhesive means is coated on only a joint portion between the soft sheet material and the circuit unit.
In this wire harness, since the adhesive means is coated only on the joint portion between the soft sheet material and the circuit unit, no adhesive means need be coated on an unnecessary portion. Therefore, manufacturing cost can be reduced.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, as it depends from the second or third aspects, the other one of the two soft sheet materials is formed into the same shape as that of the distribution path of the circuit unit.
In this wire harness, when the circuit unit is to be distributed on a predetermined path, the circuit unit can be distributed on the predetermined path by placing the circuit unit on one soft sheet material. For this reason, the circuit unit can be easily distributed on the predetermined path. Therefore, workability is improved.
According to a fifth aspect of the invention, as its depends from one aspect among the first to fourth aspects, the soft sheet material is adhered to a panel of a door, and the circuit unit is distributed in the door.
In the wire harness, the soft sheet materials having the circuit unit interposed therebetween are soft. For this reason, when the wire harness interferes with the panel of the door, no noise is generated.
According to a sixth aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a wire harness, comprising the steps of distributing a circuit unit having a plurality of electric wires on a predetermined path on a vacuum forming die, coating a soft sheet material on the circuit unit, and sucking out air between the circuit unit and the soft sheet material to enclose the circuit unit while the soft sheet material is in an adhesion state.
In the method of manufacturing a wire harness, the circuit unit is interposed between the soft sheet materials while being distributed on a predetermined path to manufacture a wire harness.
According to a seventh aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a wire harness, comprising the steps of placing one soft sheet material of two soft sheet materials on a vacuum forming die, distributing a circuit unit having a plurality of electric wires on a predetermined path on the soft sheet material into a flat shape, coating the other soft sheet material on the one of soft sheet material of the two soft sheet materials and the circuit unit, and sucking out air between the two soft sheet materials to adhesively join the two soft sheet materials so that the two soft sheet materials interpose the circuit unit therebetween.
According to the method of manufacturing a wire harness, the two soft sheet materials can be adhesively joined to each other to interpose the circuit unit therebetween. According to the method of manufacturing a wire harness, since the
circuit unit is interposed between the soft sheet materials, noise can be prevented from being generated when the wire harness is mounted on a vehicle. Since the wire harness can be folded, the style of packing in delivery can be made compact, and a large space is not required to store the wire harness.
The above and further objects and novel feature of the present invention will more fully appear from the accompanying drawings and the detailed descriptions of the preferred embodiments.